The House of Niccolo
Titles: To Lie With Lions, Caprice & Rondo, Gemini
Author: Dorothy Dunnett
# of Pages: Over 1500, combined
Publisher: Vintage
Rating: 10/10
Favorite lines:
To Lie With Lions - Nicholas said, "If you faint like a cowardly turd, I will forbid you my house."
Caprice & Rondo - "But it is not a bad thing to face life with a flower at the ear, as a dancer does, and this is my flourish for you... We shall never know how our own lives, yours and mine, might have touched. But now my love has looked on your face, and in meeting her, you have met me, or part of the core of me that does not seem to alter. The rest is a bruised thing which passes from person to person, and which never seems whole. But perhaps time will cure that."
Gemini - He was watching the sledges jump and slew at the heels of the horses, their creels roused to a silvery rattle, their spillings dancing from timber to timber and sprinkling the unwinding roadway like rose-leaves. Or like the living creatures they were, male and female at once; lust and tenderness embraced in one heart; each now shut and alone in its shell, because the singing had stopped.
Whew! Three Dunnett books in a row! Talk about trying to sprint through a marathon. I am FINALLY done with Dorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolo series! When did I start it? I finished the first book on Dec. 5, 2005. So, just a little less than a year. Which, really, for an eight book series of staggering proportions is pretty impressive, I think. I'm quite proud of myself!
I have put these three books together in one entry because I never know how to review Dunnett's books. I don't think plot summaries work well if you haven't read the other books in the series, and her plots (to me) are so complicated that if I were to make the effort, I'd probably screw up. Basically, the end of To Lie With Lions is the climax of the series and then Caprice & Rondo and Gemini are the falling action in which things finally become resolved.
I loved all three of these books, but I think I liked Caprice & Rondo the best because it was the happiest. However, all three are excellent, and I think I may be one of those few readers who read Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles before reading her House of Niccolo, but enjoyed Niccolo more. I think the characters in Niccolo are so complex and so interesting and really just very difficult not to like- whereas there were several in the Lymond books that I found very easy to dislike!
For anyone who enjoys epic historical fantasy or sweeping historical fiction, with an amazing breadth of politics, locations and characters, Dunnett is for you. I would highly recommend her books. And if, like me, you have the feeling that you don't really know what's going on with the plot ... don't worry ;-) You can enjoy the books, anyway!
Author: Dorothy Dunnett
# of Pages: Over 1500, combined
Publisher: Vintage
Rating: 10/10
Favorite lines:
To Lie With Lions - Nicholas said, "If you faint like a cowardly turd, I will forbid you my house."
Caprice & Rondo - "But it is not a bad thing to face life with a flower at the ear, as a dancer does, and this is my flourish for you... We shall never know how our own lives, yours and mine, might have touched. But now my love has looked on your face, and in meeting her, you have met me, or part of the core of me that does not seem to alter. The rest is a bruised thing which passes from person to person, and which never seems whole. But perhaps time will cure that."
Gemini - He was watching the sledges jump and slew at the heels of the horses, their creels roused to a silvery rattle, their spillings dancing from timber to timber and sprinkling the unwinding roadway like rose-leaves. Or like the living creatures they were, male and female at once; lust and tenderness embraced in one heart; each now shut and alone in its shell, because the singing had stopped.
Whew! Three Dunnett books in a row! Talk about trying to sprint through a marathon. I am FINALLY done with Dorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolo series! When did I start it? I finished the first book on Dec. 5, 2005. So, just a little less than a year. Which, really, for an eight book series of staggering proportions is pretty impressive, I think. I'm quite proud of myself!
I have put these three books together in one entry because I never know how to review Dunnett's books. I don't think plot summaries work well if you haven't read the other books in the series, and her plots (to me) are so complicated that if I were to make the effort, I'd probably screw up. Basically, the end of To Lie With Lions is the climax of the series and then Caprice & Rondo and Gemini are the falling action in which things finally become resolved.
I loved all three of these books, but I think I liked Caprice & Rondo the best because it was the happiest. However, all three are excellent, and I think I may be one of those few readers who read Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles before reading her House of Niccolo, but enjoyed Niccolo more. I think the characters in Niccolo are so complex and so interesting and really just very difficult not to like- whereas there were several in the Lymond books that I found very easy to dislike!
For anyone who enjoys epic historical fantasy or sweeping historical fiction, with an amazing breadth of politics, locations and characters, Dunnett is for you. I would highly recommend her books. And if, like me, you have the feeling that you don't really know what's going on with the plot ... don't worry ;-) You can enjoy the books, anyway!